I love my Bible.  I read it everyday.  I think about what it says and how it challenges me.  I have so much to learn, so many changes to make, steps to take and instructions to follow.  I trust and obey, but I can trust and obey better.  The closer I get and the more I understand, the more I realize that I have so much work to do.

There was a time in my life, when I thought I was just about there, but then the Lord brought me to a place of decision.  I could be satisfied and stay or be challenged and changed.  I have to confess – for a while I was satisfied and stayed, but then one day that was made up of a few months of days, the Spirit began to challenge me and as I began to accept the challenge, the challenge began to change me.

The change helped me to realize that there was and is still so much room for improvement and growth in my life.  It’s not about earning or deserving my way.  It’s about my believing that God made the way through His Son and the Holy Spirit guides my steps on this amazing journey of relationship.

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading about the birth of Jesus and this verse caught my attention:  “The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”  Luke 1:35

This promise from the Angel to Mary is a promise to you and me.  When we surrender to God’s will for our lives – the Holy Spirit comes upon us, the power of the Most High overshadows us and the Son of God saves us!  God, help me to surrender!  G3!

Do you ever have one of those days when you don’t really accomplish any of the things you set out to accomplish?  One of those days when you don’t feel like you really accomplished anything?  You know one of those days where you feel like you moved backwards, instead of forward?

What do you do with a day like that?  You can let it take and keep you down in the dumps, or you can decide to do something about it, by turning it around and making it count while it is still today.

Here are three things you can do to make every day a productive day, even and especially the days that feel non-productive:

1.)  Look for encouragement!  Read something encouraging like the Bible, motivational quotes or something special that you’ve saved from a family member or friend.  Listen to motivational messages or watch something uplifting on tv or video.  Now with some encouragement under your belt, move to step number two.

2.)  Share the encouragement!  Believe it or not, you are not the only one out there that had this kind of day.  Take a few moment to write a note, post a message or make a call and share an encouraging thought with at least three other people.  Be intentional and on purpose – make this count.

3.)  Realize the encouragement!  You went and got some encouragement for yourself and then you shared encouragement with someone else.  If you did nothing else today – it has been a good and productive day!  Realize and appreciate the opportunity you have been blessed with.

BTW…  Just because you think it was an unproductive day does not mean that it was.  You often accomplish more than you realize and when you really begin to realize the encouragement, you will also begin to see that you accomplished more than you originally realized!  Blessings!

Sometimes I start out on one path and end up on another.  This may be frustrating to some people, but it’s not to me, because I have learned that as I trust my Creator, He takes me on journeys and it is on the journey that I see, experience and learn things that I could not and would not learn anywhere else.

I am not a perfect person.  I am not the most educated.  I don’t know everything.  I am a child of the most High King.  I do listen to Him and can hear Him speak.  I ultimately follow His will and experience amazing things.

I love God and I am glad that He loves me.  He made me and while I am not perfect, I am forgiven and He allows me to serve Him everyday with my life.  I get to touch others with His amazing grace, the same grace that is at work in my life and I cannot find words anywhere near good enough to explain how that feels.

Judge if you must, judge if you will, just be careful – because in all of your judging, you might just miss the journey He has for you and that would be really sad, because He has an amazing journey for each of us.  I love you, am praying for you and giving God the glory for it all!